I've been buying spam cans of 5.45x39 lately from AIM, and it is all early 80's ammo with the same loading of a 53gr 7N6 bullet. This is good shooting ammo, but variety is the spice of life. Is there any other 5.45 surplus out there now?

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Since tracers and armor piercing ammo is restricted for import, about all of the surplus 5.45 ammo you're going to see in any quantity is going to be 7N6.

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Daraclor: A brand of anti-malaria pills which we had to drink every week while on the border. Legend had it that these would make you turn yellow and that you wouldn't be able to tan.

Rifle caliber armor piercing ammo has no current restriction for importation into the USA.

Im sure your aware, but the russians technically wont export anything current in 5.45 being its there main cal. So no ak105 5.45 booster's,subsonic 5.45, ap 5.45 or tracer 5.45 ammo. The booster's and sight leafs and fsb/gb are from ak104's. 104 are 7.62 and are exportable.

So enjoy your 7n6 at the prices they are at. You wont see any russian surplus past 1986 since that is there current issue enhanced penetrator ammo.afaik

This info is subject to change, or may not be correct to start with. but its what im sticking with as of now. Damn russians, 5.45 is my main cal too

Rifle caliber armor piercing ammo has no current restriction for importation into the USA.

Well yeah, for import regulations "armor piercing" ammunition seems to be defined as being made for a handgun. So technically no rifle ammo is armor piercing even the AP ammo.

In my collection I have Russian, Bulgarian, Romanian, Polish and Ukrainian 5.45x39 cartridges.

__________________
Daraclor: A brand of anti-malaria pills which we had to drink every week while on the border. Legend had it that these would make you turn yellow and that you wouldn't be able to tan.

Sorry for digging up an older topic, How can you tell whether your 5.45 is Ukrainian or Russian? I've been looking for info on spam can codes and haven't seen too much on Soviet 7n6 cans other than year of manuf. I've found the 5.45 magazine website to be a huge help but haven't found anything like it for ammo.

Sorry for digging up an older topic, How can you tell whether your 5.45 is Ukrainian or Russian? I've been looking for info on spam can codes and haven't seen too much on Soviet 7n6 cans other than year of manuf. I've found the 5.45 magazine website to be a huge help but haven't found anything like it for ammo.

Some of the early production Soviet ammo from around 1976 has the code for the Ukrainian factory on the can and maybe stamped other places also. I think the Ukraine is selling off surplus Soviet 5.45 ammo so the Russian-made surplus may come from or sold by other Soviet republics but made in Russia. Russia isn't selling surplus 5.45 directly.

__________________
Daraclor: A brand of anti-malaria pills which we had to drink every week while on the border. Legend had it that these would make you turn yellow and that you wouldn't be able to tan.

Typically, the 1080 round cans that the 5.45x39mm M74 7N6 ammo is packaged in contain important important about production, including the code for the factory that it was produced in...

Typically, the first line on the can (in the largest letters) will be

5,45 PS gs (although I've converted the Cyrillic letters to their English equivalents).

Bulgarian production can be found in cans marked in Cyrillic or English letters. All the rest that I've seen has only been in Cyrillic letters.

The second line, starting on the left, will be something like:

K07 - 90 [broken double circle with 10 inside] and then continuing to the right with additional info about production type. Here, the 10 within the double circle indicates Bulgarian manufacture, since factory code 10 was allocated to this facility in Bulgaria under the old Soviet system/Warsaw Pact rules and regulations. The 90 indicates year of production and/or 'canning.' The K07 is the lot number.

or, another marking (for example):

b74 - 82 - 270

The b74 is the lot number, produced in 1982 at Soviet factory 270 at Lugansk in the Ukraine (factory code 270).

If the factory code is 539, is was produced in the USSR at Tula.

If you google 'headstamp codes,' you'll quickly bring up a wealth of information about what the number and letter codes mean...